General Question

What to do with this lump?

For a bit less than a week now I’ve been coexisting with a lump in my LEFT armpit. – It’s painful (appearantly incresingly) when touched lightly and with certain movements. – It’s rather big, protruding now to the size of almost half a walnut. – I’m male (most info I found was relevant to female conditions) – I took my temperature only today and it was first 37.5 then 37.1 – I have two cats (as seems to be of interest) but when this thing rose I was away from them.
-I’d sensed some annoyance in my armpit for maybe ½ weeks before the lump appeared. (Can’t be specific as to what I felt. Maybe I would’ve described it as a “swollen and hardened vein/artery” but very slightly.)

I’ve been to a doctor and am waiting for test results in 2 days. But I want to know what I can do in the meanwhile, and what to expect potentially.

9 Answers

I don’t think it is possible for anyone to give you any useful information until you get the test results and the diagnosis from the doctor. A lump could be so many things. I’m sorry you are going through this.

Hot packs certainly won’t hurt anything and if it’s an infection it might draw it to a head. Normally I don’t dispense medical advice like this but you’re seeing the doctor again in 2 days. Just from what little information you’re providing it sounds like this.http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hidradenitis-suppurativa/DS00818

I’ve had that before, not only on my armpit, my inner leg (groin) area, and forearm. My doctor diagnosed these as sebaceous cysts.

When I was a kid, I used to be fat. As a teen, I lost a lot of weight and got fit, but in the process, I ended up with quite a few benign fatty cysts——lipomas——deep under my skin. Once in awhile, one will become infected, as it did with me. It gradually got bigger, felt hot and red, and was painful to the touch. All of them went away on their own, and despite the pain and ugliness of the lumps (especially the one on my left forearm, which grew to the size of a half-dollar), they weren’t that serious, health-wise. The doctor gave me cream for the one on my forearm, which didn’t work much. Only time healed the lumps. He could have given me oral antibiotics, but I declined. I didn’t have a fever. You can apply warm, wet compresses to the lump and take Tylenol to relieve the pain in the meantime.

The one on my forearm left a slight scar——like a small dark patch. But it’s quite small, thankfully, considering how big and painful it got when it was infected. My guess is that yours is an infected benign cyst too. Good luck.